Naught But Cinders (Sneak Peek)
by Roach99
Summary: Four students to change the fate of their world, and four champions who have already brought such change. Each summoned, each to heed the call, and each to face off against those that have linked the fire. (One-shot sneak peek to a much larger story coming out).


**Author's Note:** **Greetings everybody, I would really like to say hello and welcome to another story I have written, but that is not the case.**

 **The following one-shot is a sneak peek to the Dark Souls/RWBY story that I have planned, and I have written this to provide a sample of what I have in the works.**

 **I would like to say that this takes place during one unlisted chapter of the story and will be integrated into the story soon. In the meantime, however, I will use this in the same sense as Monty Oum had used the Red, White, Black, and Yellow trailers.**

 **If you do like it, I would like to read your thoughts and/or constructive criticism.**

 **This is something I have never tried before, as I'm more accustomed to writing lengthy stories than a(n unofficial, mind you) one-shot, so I wish to try something new in the meantime.**

 **Finally, I wish to say that I _very strongly_ recommend listening to the music listed for each scene, for it will help for the reader's immersion into the story.**

 **Story will be subject to change in the future.**

 **That is all I wish to say now, enjoy.**

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 **I do not own RWBY or Dark Souls. They belong to their respected owners: Rooster Teeth and FromSoftware.**

 **Music to be used will be represented by these symbols,** ***,** **and will be differentiated via quantity.**

 **The following music has been composed by Alex Roe. Therefore, all credit goes to him, thank you.**

 **1\. Dark Souls Remix- All for One (Abyss Watchers). ***

 **2\. Dark Souls Remix- The Curse That Binds Us (Lorian, Elder Prince, and Lothric, Younger Prince). ****

 **3\. Dark Sign II- Tempered. *****

 **4\. Dark Souls Remix- The Profaned Vanguard (Yhorm the Giant). ******

 **Enjoy.**

* * *

 **Chapter Number to be determined: Trial of Embers.**

* * *

 _ **"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost;"**_

"Ugh... my head," Blake groaned, clutching at her head with both hands until her migraine suddenly ceased. Not long after, the faunus girl opened her eyes and pushed herself back to her feet, straightening up as she attempted to figure out where exactly she was.

The faunus girl found herself surrounded by a ring of deep fog, the dark grey smoke obscuring her vision and preventing her from finding out what had happened to her. The fog was so thick she could barely see her hands already two inches in front of her face.

Blake shook her head, puzzled as she tried to recall what had happened before she ended up here. She remembered her and the rest of the team tailing after Kaldwell, trying to figure out where he had gone after the fight. Eventually, they stumbled upon a cave, carved evenly and smoothly from solid black granite. The man had disappeared into the Emerald Forest, claiming he would prefer to leave and recuperate rather than continue visiting at Beacon for the time being.

Afterwards... it all became a jumbled mess, all she could remember afterwards was a pillar of smoke surrounding the cave before blacking out.

Now, however? All that she needed to focus on was a way to get out of here.

Suddenly, as though it had listened to her very thoughts, the fog began to fade away, the room becoming more and more clear.

Blake took in the sights of the area itself, a large rectangular room made of stone, blood splattered against rocks. Though the most shocking was the piles of bodies that littered the floor, their corpses splayed out and weapons still clutched around their fingers. The faunus gulped instinctively at the morbid picture before her. But her thoughts were cut off as new sounds made themselves known.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of metal clashing against metal. Blake's attention turned to the pair of figures in the center, the ones that were creating the sounds of battle before her.

The two each wore a shoulder pauldron on their left shoulders, their black vests seemingly formed from tough leather and encased in a layer of chainmail. Both wore gloves made from the same material in their armor fitted onto their right hands while a steel gauntlet was worn in their left. Their leg armor made from the same leather, though it was fitted with armor to protect their kneecaps; their feet protected by a pair of thick brown boots.

Though what had Blake's attention most of all were the pointed helms that stood atop their heads. The sharpened point invoking a sense of uneasiness from the faunus.

The two warriors were interlocked in battle on the other side of the room, both of them wielding a sword in their right hand and a wedged dagger in their left. The warrior on her left slammed their massive sword down at the other, who had backed out of the way, only to receive a second strike onto it's shoulder guard, their knees wavering from the strike, only to fall as the first warrior's dagger slammed into the other's helmet.

Before Blake had a chance to even get involved, the second tried to get up, only to stagger back as the warrior's blade sliced across their collar. Unable to do anything but attempt to stand before the other grabbed the knight by the scruff of his armor and plunge his sword into the soldier's abdomen. A sick sound of steel grounding against flesh resonated off of the walls as the impaled warrior fell limp with a wet thump, allowing the victor to pull the newly-made corpse off of their blade.

The warrior then turned to see the faunus girl standing at the other side of the room. Blake would've had every obligation to turn and run just at the glare of the mask that the warrior wore, but alas, the door was blocked off by a wall of thick and impervious grey fog.

Blake watched as the armored figure lifted their sword, it's blade caked with rust and blood, while placing the dagger held in their off-hand over their dominant's upper arm. Blake only unsheathed _Gambol Shroud_ in response, knowing that this was a battle she wouldn't be running away from.

A small, almost silent, whisper made it's way to her ear, sounding like that of an old woman, _"Farron's Undead Legion: The Abyss Watchers,"_ the voice had said. _ *****_

The warrior, this... Abyss Watcher, lowered their blade and fell into an offensive position, while Blake released the safety on _Gambol's_ pistol and did the same, holding her sword in one hand, while her other was held up in a defensive position.

Blake watched as the warrior charged at her at breakneck speed, the Watcher's sword held behind while the dagger was held before the warrior. The raven-haired girl tensed up, readying herself as the enemy before her finally reached.

With a mighty heave, the Abyss Watcher swung at the girl, his intent on cleaving the girl in two and putting an end to her swiftly and painlessly. Instead, the blade only swiped at nothing, the girl fading like a mirage and leaving nothing where she had once stood. The Abyss Watcher turned around to feel the sting of a black blade slice into the soldier's abdomen, the girl before the warrior weaving past as her blade followed alongside her.

The warrior looked down at the wound for only a split-second, pressing a hand to the wound.

 _Blood..._

Blake watched as the Abyss Watcher readied the blade once more, their sword pointed diagonally at the ground before rushing forward. Before she could even react, the blade cut into her shoulder, forcing her to emit a sharp cry in anguish. By the time she could respond to the attack, the warrior cleaved the dagger in their offhand upwards, sending the girl spiraling backwards onto the stone behind her.

The raven-haired faunus picked herself off of the floor and staggered back, groaning as her Aura came to her aid. She looked up to see the swordsman eyeing her, knowing that she wasn't some weak-willed girl with a sword.

To the old soldier of Farron before her, she was a worthy opponent to challenge the servants of the Wolf Blood.

Blake looked up and rolled out of the way as the soldier had leaped forward and impaled his sword into the ground, missing Blake by mere centimetres. The girl quickly backstepped away from another incoming swipe before charging forward and slamming her blade towards the warrior.

Unfortunately for her, the Abyss Watcher had caught the blade with his own, having to sheathe their dagger to be able to resist the force. Blake began to push forward as the two continued to struggle with their blades locked in combat. Blake looked up at the warrior, staring into it's masked face, but the warrior him(her?)self did not do the same.

Instead, they had been staring _past_ her.

 ***CLANG!***

Blake inhaled sharply and grunted loudly simultaneously at the new force, her breathing picking speed in panic, barely managing to remove the sheathe from _Gambol Shroud_ and block the incoming strike behind her. She quickly glanced around to see that her new assailant was another Abyss Watcher, one that had apparently risen from amongst the dead and join in their battle.

The two knights turned and watched as the girl before them ducked under their blades, forcing the two to unintentionally clash together, and leap away from them. The first Abyss Watcher looked at the other before the two turned back to face her, both of them taken offensive stances once more.

 _'You've got to be kidding me...'_ Blake sighed internally before charging back to her opponents, clutching both her sword and it's sheathe in either hand.

Steel met steel as the first Abyss Watcher dueled against the faunus girl while the other had back away and circled around her, each of them meeting blow for blow as Blake and the Abyss Watchers fought on. The girl leapt out of an incoming strike from the second warrior who had attempted to flank her before ducking under a spinning slash from the first, the knight whirling about with a series of strikes that could be described as both savage grace and beautifully deadly.

Unfortunately, this dance couldn't be held on for long, as Blake was shoved into one of the room's walls by the second Watcher. The cat faunus coughed in pain as the wind was knocked out of her lungs. She held her side in pain and looked up to see the two soldiers making their way towards her, their blades poised directly at her, more than willing to put her down as they drew close.

Blake closed her eyes immediately, holding out her blades over her body defensively as she awaited the killing blow from either of them.

Fortunately for her, she heard something else: another clang of steel smashing against the two cone-helmed knights. She looked up to see another Abyss Watcher standing beside her, the soldier's eyes glowing blood-red, not even bothering to acknowledge her presence as the knight simply rushed against one of the others.

Ignoring her wounds and deciding to let Aura do it's job once more, Blake picked herself back off the floor with some help from her swords before regaining balance. Despite what little she knew so far, or even why they were attacking her in the first place, she knew one thing: one was attacking the other, distracting the knight as they each clashed blades; and that it seemed that she could only leave until either her or her opponents were dead.

The first Abyss Watcher slammed his blade into their hollowed brother-in-arms while the second sliced wildly with their dagger, having to put down the red-eyed shell of a knight. With a mighty swing, the hollow was slammed across the room by their Farron blade, knocking the husked warrior against the wall. Before the killing blow could be dealt with, another slammed into the soldier, who looked down to see that the girl in black had sliced across the Abyss Watcher's side. It seemed that the girl was far from dying, she looked more alive than ever, albeit ragged.

Blake gave the Watcher no time to recover before swinging her blade at her foe's neck, who was quick enough to block the incoming attack with their dagger. The faunus retracted her sword and quickly leapt away before the knight could counterattack, who was now glaring at her from under the diamond-shaped rim of their helmet.

She quickly evaded another attack as the soldier quickly cleared the gap between the two and slammed their dagger into the stone floor, pulling the knight in a wide arc across the floor with the blade at their side in an attempt to hit her, the Abyss Watcher pulled once more on the dagger and quickly swiped again at the girl in an inverted motion before pushing off of the floor, performing a spin flip, and slamming both blades where the girl had once stood.

The Abyss Watcher knelt down, momentarily drained by their assault, only to realize that the black-haired girl had been given the opportunity for a counterattack. Trying to fix their own mistake, the knight quickly stood back up to attack one more time, raising their boot in an attempt to kick the girl back.

But it was too late, Blake immediately retaliated by plunging her blade into the Abyss Watcher's abdomen before retracting her sword, only to be kicked back to the other side of the room. She, emitted a yelp of pain, yet quickly recovered and stood back up to see that the warrior had already hit the ground hard, presumably dead as the others had fallen at the same time the first did.

Blake collapsed to her knees from the fight, beads of sweat dripping from every pore. She closed her eyes for only a few seconds before opening them to see the results of her... unfortunate handiwork (the murder of another was never something to brag about, even if they were the enemy)... only for her relief to turn to horror.

She watched as streams what she could only assume was blood began to rise from the dozens of corpses and began to pool into the one in the center, the same one she had killed. The figure lay unmoving as the blood began to flow into the assumed corpse before everything was still.

Immediately, the knight's blade erupted in a plume of fire, engulfing the entire sword as the Abyss Watcher slowly began to rise once more, pulling itself back to it's feet with the help of their sword before kneeling down, with their blade now pointed to the swordsman's side and their dagger lowered to the knight's forward foot, the warrior beckoning to her for one last fight.

 _'You cannot be serious,'_ Blake glared at the figure, gripping her swords tightly in both hands. Her fear having numbed into frustration.

Like she even had a choice to refuse...

Without hesitation, the girl broke into a sprint towards the flame-bladed Watcher, the rest of their brethren dried to husks and devoid of the sacred Wolf blood as they sacrificed their own to turn the knight into a Lord of Cinder, as they had all burned as one when they linked the First Flame.

The Abyss Watcher only strode towards the running girl at a slower pace, stalking with precision as though they a predator eyeing it's prey before the kill. The knight raised their blade and swung forwards, curving down into the earth and striking up at the warrior's opponent. A plume of fire erupted in front of the girl, but alas, the Abyss Watcher saw as the girl had backpedaled behind the wall as a doppelganger took her place.

Blake removed the sheathe from _Gambol Shroud_ once more, holding the two sharpened weapons in both hands as the knight sped towards her, a trail of flame blazing in their wake. The faunus girl deflected a blow from her attacker before rolling away from another spinning swing, this time with a deadlier touch of conflagration.

She struck and the two locked blades once more, her swords crossed in an "X" fashion as the Watcher's blade dug into the center. The knight pulled back their other hand and swiped at her with their dagger, forcing her to duck under the swipe and fall to her knees. Blake looked up to see the Abyss Watcher's boot raised up before slamming back down, barely saving herself as she rolled underneath the soldier and stood up to see their back.

Before the Lord of Cinder could turn around, the girl had already plunged her sword into their back before kicking the knight off. The Abyss Watcher fell to the ground but quickly rolled back up to avoid the girl's next attack, her blade plunging into the ground in the same way the knight had previously done to her.

For what seemed like forever, the two had matched each other. Their swords always meeting, only managing to nick the other when one had the upperhand, only to fall back into their usual stalemate. Finally, the Abyss Watcher had grown weary of their swordsmanship before sending a hard kick into the girl's abdomen, sending her reeling back towards the opposing wall.

Blake quickly recovered once more and sprinted towards the knight, striking from behind. Her blade scraping against their sword as the Abyss Watcher managed to intercept the blow. The grating sound of steel scraping against steel was pure torture to the girl's sensitive ears, but Blake grit her teeth at the painful sounds and paid it no mind as she continued to persist in the fight.

The Abyss Watcher closed the gap between the two with a single bound across the arena, stabbing the Farron sword into the ground. The Warrior had once again missed, they turned to see something slamming into their helmet, knocking the soldier to the ground. After managing to get back up, the knight had looked to see a line of black ribbon across the room. And at the end was the girl hurtling back at the knight at inhuman speeds.

The black-haired girl ducked under as the Lord of Cinder attempted to clothesline her with their blade, missing by mere centimetres. Instead, she pulled _Gambol Shroud_ back out of the wall she had thrown it to and ducked under another strike before swinging the weapon's kasurigama form into the knight's midsection, tearing through their chainmail and inflicting what could be considered a painful strike, forcing the soldier to take a knee.

Blake pulled her weapon back into her hand, shifted it back into it's bladed form (sheathe and all), and struck down at knight, only to hiss in anger as they had parried the strike at the last second with their dagger. The Abyss Watcher took advantage of her split-second stumble before swinging the blade back up to cleave the girl in half. Blake, quick-witted as she always was, managed to step back and release the lock to her sword's sheathe.

The greatsword struck not at the girl, but at her sword. The Lord of Cinder had expected the sword to leave her hands, allowing for the Lord to quickly finish off their work without interruption. Instead, only the sheathe to her sword undid itself, spinning into the air as the knight had left themselves open from the strike.

At that moment, the faunus wasted no time in unleashing a wide flurry of hacks and slashes from her katana. She could do nothing but attack and watch as her hits landed heavy slices into the Abyss Watcher, sacred blood pooling from the cuts and the knight's limbs began to spasm from the pain.

Eventually, she caught her sheathe as soon as it fell back down in her left hand before dancing in a hail of sword-strikes around the knight, who could do naught but endure each hit. Blake looked up to see the Abyss Watcher attempt one last, the blade clumsily falling back down from a loose and bloodied hand.

Blake inhaled and swung her sheathe, the Farron blade clattering out of the knight's hand as they took a step back. She immediately acted once more by pulling back _Gambol Shroud_ 's katana form and plunging the blade deep into the Abyss Watcher's abdomen.

The Abyss Watcher, a proud member of the old Undead Legion of Farron, knights who had razed entire nations to the ground, froze as the blade laid within the knight. After the girl had removed her sword, the knight took one last look at her before crumpling to their knees and falling to the ground, the last of their Embers extinguished.

Blake watched as the knight then vanished in a crumbling form of ash, disappearing from the arena.

Her shoulder's tensed up as she surveyed the room once more, expecting any more tricks this place had up their sleeve. Instead, she looked down to see a flickering light rising from the ground and floating towards her face.

 **"You have survived the trial of Embers... now await your comrades to finish their battles as well."**

Before she could react any further, the little flame immediately spread out into a flash of light. Blake was engulfed by the light before her vision faded to black once more.

 **-oOo-**

 _ **"The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost;"**_

" **Oh dear... another dogged contender...** "

Weiss found herself in a large room as soon as the smoke had cleared. Pillars covering the sides of the room while ragged drapes hung from the ceiling, and at the other side of the room was what appeared to be a giant bed.

Kneeling on that bed was a pale figure wrapped in dark robes, the man (she assumed it was a young man, despite the form and sound of their voice) staring down at her from afar. Weiss was unable to see his face, but she managed to see his elongated fingers and nails, sending a jolt of shivers up her spine at the unwary sight.

Before she could even have a chance to speak, the man had spoken once more, " **Welcome, Unkindled One... purloiner of Cinders...** "

"What are you talking about?" she demanded. Unkindled One? What was that supposed to mean? And why had he given her such a title? All her questions were left unanswered as another noise had made itself known in this young man's large bedchamber.

The heiress had turned to see another figure emerge from the shade beside the bed, crawling on their arms and knees as this newcomer carried a large sword in their left hand.

" **Mind you, the mantle of Lord interests me none,** " the young man, failing to listen to the heiress' protests, continued as the other proceeded to crawl out, the ringing and clattering sounds of armor permeated both opposing figures' ears, " **The fire-linking curse, the legacy of Lords, let it all fade into nothing.** "

The more this boy talked, the less it made sense to the girl. He seemed to be speaking in incoherent nonsense, at least to Weiss. All this talk of Lords and fire was making little reason to her, as if this robed figure was speaking in metaphors.

Weiss lowered her view to see the kneeling figure, their upper face covered by a dull and jagged crown as ash-grey hair clung to the sides of his head, stopping little more than past this newcomer's chin. The swordsman's body covered in what appeared to be bronze armor, the form fitting snugly around his body, with flowing clothe at his lower waist surrounding the plating that covered his legs. The crowned figure then impaled their sword into the ground, still grasping it by the handle before glaring back at her.

She now realized that this man was far from ordinary. No, she was looking at a giant of a man, towering over her on his knees alone.

" **You've done quite enough,** " the other had said, waving her off like an insect, " **Now have your rest.** "

The kneeling sword-wielder opened his mouth, with Weiss expecting some sort of savage battle-cry or boast of strength. Instead, it only came out as a raspy hiss, the sword blazing as the fiery-orange cracks in the blade began to burn to life.

Weiss didn't need any flowery language to understand just what the boy had just said. She only responded by unsheathing _Myrtenaster_ , knowing that there was no way to reason her way out of this with diplomacy. She would have to fight if she wanted to make it out of here alive.

Without warning, a voice whispered into her ear, saying only three words, _"Lorian, Elder Prince."_

Suddenly, the crowned swordsman, Lorian, she assumed, disappeared in a flash of white light. For a split-second, Weiss stared at the spot for moment in complete confusion before hearing the same noise again right behind her. _ ******_

She managed to leap over the horizontal swing of the swordsman's fiery sword with a well-timed glyph, landing back at the opposing side of the room.

That was... new.

The chambers of her Dust-stored rapier, _Myrtenaster,_ began to click rapidly before settling on a single chamber, the sword itself pointed directly at the Elder Prince as Weiss' finger hovered over the trigger that would activate the stored Dust.

Even in the midst of battle, she still maintained some formality.

" **Ah... another user of sorceries it seems,** " the robed figure commented before waving his elongated fingers away, " **No matter, you Unkindled shall perish all the same.** "

The Elder Prince only proceeded to disappeared in another flash of light, Weiss' senses immediately sprung into action as she quickly surveyed the area around her, knowing that Lorian could be anywhere.

Instead, she took the full brunt of his strike as he had appeared right in front of her, catching her off-guard with such a direct, yet unpredictable, move. Weiss was tossed to the ground just a few meters away, but managed to catch herself with another glyph, this time directing it at the prince, her fingers grasping at the trigger of her sword.

The pointed end of the rapier erupted into flames as Lorian attempted to dodge the attack, trying to shift on his side as the blade dug into his shoulder and clipped against his armor, forcing the prince back from the attack, grasping at his shoulder with his sword-hand and managing a pained wheeze.

Weiss managed to land on her feet gracefully, her blade loosely pointed once more at the wounded royalty, who managed to hobble on his knees and turn around, glaring at her from beneath his crown. He now knew not to underestimate the alabaster heiress.

Lorian's greatsword began to burn even brighter as his face contorted into a scowl. With a silent roar, he leaped forward with his blade held high, disappearing in another flash before appearing once more beside the girl, swing at her with his burning blade. The sword itself sliced through the wooden furniture that covered the room, catching everything it touched on fire.

It was confusing how her opponent spoke neither a word or make the effort to get stand up and catch her off-guard with his enormous height. Her further thoughts were quickly interrupted by another heavy swing towards her. Weiss refocused her efforts once more, leaping over and managing to land on the sword itself before rushing forward and attempting to impale the man with her sword.

Weiss silently cursed to herself in a very un-Schnee-like manner as he disappeared once more. She looked around once more to see Prince Lorian once more on the other side of the room, his sword raised high into the air. The heiress' heart quickened in a combination of anticipation and fear as she saw his sword glow in a white light similar to the way he would maneuver the room.

She continued to watch as his blade began to gather more and more light before slamming it back down into the ground. Weiss barely had enough time to summon another glyph to push her out of the way of the incoming wall that had been heading straight towards her. She managed to barely dodge the attack, landing on her abdomen with a dull thump, eliciting a near-silent pained groan from amidst her throat.

Still a little sore from the landing, Weiss managed to pick herself back up and hold her blade out once more anyway, her hand shaking a bit as her Aura began to waver, but the heiress assumed she was alright.

 _'Come on Weiss, everything I try to do just forces him away...'_ she hastily thought to herself as Lorian trudged towards the unmoving girl with all the determination a presumably crippled man could muster.

 _'Forces him away... hmm...'_ before long, a plan finally formulated within the young girl's mind. She turned around and activated another glyph, this one being beneath her feet. Weiss spun the chamber of _Myrtenaster_ once more until it landed on another Dust canister, her arm bent back and tucked close to her chest with her sword still pointed forward, watching as the Elder Prince drew within range.

Prince Lorian swung his blade, Weiss' glyph flashed brilliantly and everything around her seemed to slow down. Another glyph, a white circular rune embedded into the palm of her right hand, was formed as the blade drew closer and closer. Before blade could make contact, Weiss stuck her hand out towards the edge of blade and activated the glyph.

Time returned to it's normal pace and the blade swung at full speed. Weiss' glyph flashed out in a white haze as it came in contact with the blazing sword. Immediately, Lorian's sword flew back along with it's handler's arm, sending the giant man stumbling back as the force of the girl's glyph nearly dislocated his arm.

Weiss wasted no time in pulling the trigger on her rapier, the blade sparked to life with crackling blue electricity, before slicing across the man's midsection. She was forced to back away as the prince had jerked back from the attack, his mouth opening up in shock before stumbling back forward, his entire body hitting the ground with a dull thump, the only other sound being the clattering of his armor ringing about the room.

" **Oh... dear brother...** " Weiss heard, she looked up to see the robed figure from up above bowing his head down, his inhumanely long fingers clasping together, " **I'm on my way...** "

The heiress was forced to backpedal as the figure disappeared in a flash of light before reappearing just a few metres away. She knew that he wasn't looking at her from beneath his hood, but she could sense the anger from the young boy. But she couldn't help but shudder at his words: his brother. She looked down at her blade in shock, the same which had been used to kill the man, and looked back at the robed boy, who had placed his hand onto his deceased brother's.

 **"My brother... unyielding sword of Lothric's Prince,"** the boy uttered as he leaned over to his fallen brother before whispering so quietly that Weiss was almost unable to hear, **"Rise... if you would..."**

 **"...For that is our curse."**

Weiss took another step back at came next. This boy, this... Lothric's Prince, wrapped his arms around his fallen brother, a light emanating from the two as she watched the Elder Prince slowly rise once more, this time with his brother hanging from his back, holding on with his hand clasped to his arm, wrapping around the swordsman. Weiss was forced to raise her blade once more, doing her best not to deflate from Prince Lorian's glare, his hand gripped tightly around his sword.

She forced down her fear. The heiress was a huntsman-in-training, Weiss knew what she was doing.

 _'Lothric and Lorian, Twin Princes,'_ the voice whispered again.

Rather than attack, she immediately summoned a glyph and evaded the stream of glowing white bolts that had been summoned when the younger Prince had raised his hand, landing on a broken pillar that had been destroyed in the previous fight before summoning another glyph and charging straight towards the pair.

Lorian raised his arm over his brother and managed to both protect Lothric and catch himself from the blow that nearly managed to stumble him, hissing at the wound that sliced through his abdomen. With Lothric's help, the two had disappeared just in time to evade another strike from the white-haired girl before slashing at her with his burning sword.

Weiss was too late to notice the attack before being thrown back and hitting wall. She held back a whimper as she pushed herself back to her feet, her fingers grasping tightly around _Myrtenaster_.

 **"You do not know when to give up,"** Lothric had said, his hand raising up and firing another bolt of white light at her, his face contorting into irritation as she rolled away from the attack, **"Nevertheless, these chambers will be your grave, just as much as they will be ours."**

Weiss activated her revolving Dust chambers once more, this time firing off shards of ice which did nothing but irritate the Elder Prince even more as he picked himself up off of his knees, standing up for only a split-second before slamming his sword back down on the ground, a large stream of fire had been produced from Lorian's greatsword and had forced the girl back once more.

The heiress stumbled back but managed to regain balance, her elegant appearance began to wane as her dress had been frayed at the edges of her skirt, there was a tear in the shoulder seams of her jacket, exposing her shoulder, and her hair was a tousled mess. Regardless, she still stood straight and tall against her adversaries.

Lorian had once again been forced to endure another stab from the girl. He let out a weakened hiss before falling over once more, Lothric falling over to the side as his brother tumbled to the ground. Weiss finally relaxed, allowing her small victory to be savoured.

But it fell to naught, with Lothric raising his hands over his head, creating another ball of light, **"Oh** **, dear brother..."**

Weiss immediately put two and two together as the younger prince began to wrap his arms around once more, a brilliant and pure light shimmering from within the two as Lorian began to stir to life once more. The heiress grunted in frustration and began to run towards the princes before he could finish his incantation. But alas, she was thrown back to the ground as a bright wave surrounded the two and batted away the former like a ragdoll.

Rolling back to her feet, she now realized what had to be done. Weiss looked back at her Dust chambers... empty, dammit. She was going to have to fight without Dust. She watched as Lorian began to rise once more and begin his assault again. Weiss dodged with another glyph, sending her shooting up into the air before another sent her back down, allowing her to spin downwards towards the Elder Prince before the two disappeared.

Quickly rotating about the room, Weiss held her hand out and fired off several glyphs around the room until Lorian's blade appeared once more, managing to cartwheel away from the missing attack.

The glyph beneath her immediately activated, shooting her towards the other side of the room and onto another pillar before hitting another glyph, repeating the process as she managed to maneuver around the two with the help of strategically-placed glyphs throughout the entirety of the Twin Princes' bedchambers, landing hits against them as she continued to bounce across the room with the help of her Semblance. Weiss had dodged several sword strikes and many of the Younger Prince's magic.

Lorian did his best to protect his younger brother, shifting around his entire body to endure the hits from the alabaster-themed girl. He mostly succeeded in his attempts, but grew more furious as he heard Lothric's pained cries every so often, **"You wretched wench, do you not see the futility in this damned crusade?"**

Eventually, the Elder Prince was able to spin around and grab the girl by the waist in mid-flight, eliciting a grunt of pain from her. Lorian glared at the girl behind his mask before raising his blade to finish off she who would dare to hurt his brother.

Before the blade could even touch her, another glyph had been summoned into her hand and pushed into the sword, causing the Warrior-Prince Lorian to stumble back from the force. Weiss planted her feet onto the man's chest and leaped off with a glyph to his abdomen.

Weiss propelled into the air, hitting the ceiling of the room. For a half-moment, she remained fixed towards the wall as she stared intently at the dazed pair.

She closed her eyes and inhaled. Barely a second passed before she exhaled and opened them once more.

One last glyph summoned above her feet as she was about to push herself off of the ceiling. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply before exhaling and opening her eyes just as fast. The glyph disappeared and Weiss fired off like a bullet from the barrel of a rifle, her rapier pointed forward as she spun in a corkscrew maneuver towards the two.

She finally landed on her feet, a single knee touching the ground as _Myrtenaster_ found it's target: skewering itself through a crack in Lorian's armor and impaling the Younger Prince as well. As she got up, the two had fallen before her, the robed figure of Lothric, raised himself weakly before pointing an accusing finger at her.

 **"Mark my words, Ashen One..."** Lothric rasped, his hands giving out as he collapsed into the ground and began to fade away, **"You remain... among the accursed..."**

Weiss watched as they finally disappeared, leaving a small flickering fire in their place.

Before she could even have the opportunity to collapse onto the ground from exhaustion, the fire had raised itself off of the ground and towards the heiress' face before exploding into brilliant white light.

 **"You have survived the trial of Embers... now await your comrades to finish their battles as well."**

 **-oOo-**

 _ **"From the Ashes a fire shall be woken, A light from the shadows shall spring;"**_

"Where... am I?" Yang wondered, finding herself amidst a whirlwind of grey smoke.

Fortunately for her, the blonde-brawler's questions were answered as the smoke began to dissipate.

The girl gave off a sigh of relief.

Unfortunately for her, however, she found herself nearly ankle-deep in some sort of black sludge.

Yang's relief then turned to disgust as she raised a boot off of the ground and inspected the murky and viscous liquid that clung to her boots with an irritated grimace, "Seriously? I just had these cleaned."

Despite the unfortunate conditions of her footwear, Yang recollected herself and decided to take a look at her surroundings, placing her hands on her hips as she surveyed the room's dilapidated condition, "Wow, this place sure could use some cleaning up around here."

The entire room was gigantic, sporting a dull grey color as moonlight shone through cathedral-esque mirrors from both sides of the room. Pillars sporting statues of knights were barely able to hold their own weight as crumbling cracks had ran along the surface of some of them. Above her was a domed ceiling, carved from what she could only tell was some kind of stone and metal combination. But she didn't have the time to _marble _ at the scenery around her-

Haha... she missed her friends already...

Yang's admiring of the room fell short as she caught sight of the figure on the other side of the room. She couldn't tell if it was woman or a really effeminate man from the long and silky white hair that flowed beyond the figures' shoulders, the bone-thin arms that the figure possessed, a golden sun-mask that covered the top-half of the person's head, and the dark-robes that draped over the upper half of their body. Still, this person still had an unsettling air about them, but Yang wasn't sure what it was...

Maybe it was the fact that this person had a sludge-worm body for a lower-half?

No, that **definitely** wouldn't be it...

The giant man-worm-thing's upper half clutched a long wooden staff in both of it's hands, the top set with a golden finish and glowed with an eerie violet color. What was even more unsettling than it's worm body was the way the upper body carried itself... it was too much like a marionette puppet held limply.

Yang decided to play it off like there wasn't a problem, though she was subtly readying her two favorite dealers of diplomacy while her lips did the talking, "So... nice place you got here, right?"

The figure said nothing, though the body's head tilted to the side in intrigue. And by tilt, it's head literally fell to one shoulder limply, earning a few shivers up the girl's spine due to the complete creepiness of it.

"Yeah," she continued while holding her hands behind her back, which were still preparing _Ember Celica_ in the event that shit does indeed hit the fan, "It's great and all, but I'd hire a few interior decorators to really spruce this place up a bit-"

Yang then raised a boot to show the dark slime that stained her foot, "And a janitor- woah!"

The figure stabbed at her with the end of their staff, Yang noticed the way that the person held up their staff, bone-thin fingers clenched tightly as the top of the stave began to glow with a deep violet hue.

"Not a talker, eh?" she grinned, holding out her arms enthusiastically in a combat-ready position, her hands curling rightly into fists as her knuckle-bones popped eagerly, "I can get behind that."

 _"Aldrich, Saint of the Deep,"_ went a still, small voice within Yang's ear. The creature before her, this Aldrich, raised it's staff, a glowing purple blade emitted from the top end of the staff. _ *******_

The blonde brawler's _Ember Celica_ took their usual shape as she performed a backwards somersault, dodging a stab as the man-slime thing lunged forward and stabbed where she had once stood. Yang landed back on her feet just a couple metres away and fired off several shots at the thing before sidestepping away from another attack.

The Aldrich had seen the attack, but was too late to move the puppet that had once been the Dark Sun above his sludge body connect to him. The glowing bolts struck the body of the once-living Gwyndolin, throwing the entirety of both bodies off-balance and onto the muck-ridden ground. The Saint of the Deep felt the presence of his scantily-clad opposer making her way towards him, so he had forced the puppet to grab ahold of it's staff and slam it into the floors.

Yang was thrown back by the sudden whirlpool of muck that swirled about and slammed her backwards, only to get back up and watch as the creature sunk into the ground and disappeared.

"Exit stage down, much?" Yang raised an eyebrow as Aldrich disappeared, only to then think out loud, "You really do seem to make _muck_ mess, do you?

Whether it be a lucky shot, or the creature having a very intense hatred in general, a blast of violet light threw her to the other side of the arena, forcing her to crash into a statue that seemed to bare a chest just as amazing as hers.

The blonde only wiped a spittle of blood from her lower lip with the back of her hand, glaring mischievously at the vaguely effeminate monster as her Aura healed her wound, "Is that the _breast_ you got? 'Cause you'll have to do better than that!"

Aldrich only responded by raising his staff-spear, a jettison of glowing lilac orbs floated out, seemingly wandering about aimlessly through the air.

Well, that is until Yang decided to close the distance between her and the Devourer of Gods with a little help from her shotgun gauntlets. That's when one of them realized that a huge mistake was made. The orbs immediately halted for a split-second before chasing in on their new target: Yang Xiao Long.

The girl flew across the room at breakneck speeds, her arm reeled back as she was about to give this sonuvabitch the most painful beatdown of it's life! Her hair glowing slightly as her semblance slowly began to kick in-

-Only to watch as the god disappeared into the sludge-covered floors.

Welp... shit.

"GAHHHHH!" Yang screamed in a combination of rage and pain as both the Saint disappeared and the violet homing soulmasses finally found their target, every single mass spawned by Aldrich making their mark, surrounding the injured girl in a cloud of debris.

The Saint of the Deep reemerged from the murky ground at a safe distance away on the other side of the room. The Devourer of Gods lit aflame with the embers of the First Flame as a true Lord of Cinder would be, just to be safe...

Such a girl, especially wearing armor that bore very little protection, and did nothing but leave very little to the imagination of promiscuous men. She was naught but a fool playing about in the grander scheme of things. Why would she pervade on his plan with her intrusion?

Aldrich gripped ahold of his staff tighter, cautious that she would dare not undo the precious plans he had... the coming of the Deep Sea...

The beastly Lord of Cinder loosened the grip on his staff and began to wade away within his own sludge. He was sure that the girl was finally down and would no longer be getting back up.

 ***BOOM!***

Oh... the Saint did nothing but tempt the very fabric of fate to work against him.

 _How... delightful..._

Aldrich dared to turn around to see the girl emerging from the rubble. Her hair glowing a shimmering gold that rivaled that of the very sun itself. Lilac-colored eyes that told of companionship now burned with the rage of a thousand demons. An aura of heat surrounding her as though she herself was a Lord of Cinder that had emerged from the Linking of the Fire.

"You just made a very big mistake, buster," Yang said, clutching a few strands of hair in her left fist before slamming both gauntlets together and creating a miniature shockwave throughout half of the arena, "You will **PAY FOR THAT!** "

Yang fired off _Ember Celica_ right below her and pushed herself off with a powerful leap at the same time. The girl flew towards the Devourer with unrelenting rage.

She failed to notice the Lord of Cinder's staff form into that of a silver-colored scythe until it was too late. The blade sliced directly into her Aura, feeling it drain immensely as the damage that she had taken now returned to heal his own wounds, no matter how minor they already were. Yang was thrown backwards like a ragdoll once more as she redirected herself and landed to her feet, firing her gauntlets backwards to speed her pursuit towards the enemy.

There was no way this thing was able to surprise her any more!

Only to then watch as Aldrich's staff turned into a bow before drawing a single glowing arrow, nocking it upwards before letting it go. Immediately, a hailstorm of hundreds of glowing white arrows rained down from above, making their way towards the blonde brawler once more.

Well... she just had to jinx it, didn't she?

Despite the fact that Yang may have been regretting her decision the moment she had jinxed herself, she still moved forward towards her adversary. She braced herself as the onslaught of arrows came raining down towards her, meeting dozens of arrows painfully slamming against her simultaneously and threatening to destroy her already wavering Aura.

Aldrich watched as the girl passed through moonlight arrows and headed straight for him. The sludge-like form had attempted to use Gwyndolin's form once more to conjure up another sorcery. But alas, it was too late as the girl launched another ball of fire at him, sending his body retreating backwards.

Meanwhile, the momentum of the blast had shot Yang backwards before hitting a nearby pillar. The structure itself nearly collapsed before crumbling completely as she fired off once more towards the Lord of Cinder.

Desperately, the Devourer of Gods attempted to swipe at the girl with a hasty swing, but watched in futility as she rolled along the ground before striking upwards. The last thing the Saint of the Deep saw was a mischievous grin before the force of the blow sent his entire body reeling backwards, a flash of painful white light pervading his vision as he slammed against the ground. The Lord of Cinder began to feel himself fade away.

No... no, this cannot be... the Age of Deep Waters, what would... become... of...

...

...

Yang stood in the center of the room, collapsing to her knees and caring no more about her heavily stained clothing. She looked down to see her aura flickering slightly before sputtering out. She couldn't help but let out a slight giggle as the Lord of Cinder collapsed into ashes.

Another one bites the dust... eh? Oh nevermind...

After some time, the girl finally had the chance to look up at the quivering little flame in front of her. However, the moment she looked at it, a bright shimmering light invaded her sight before darkness swallowed her.

 **"You have survived the trial of Embers... now await your comrades to finish their battles as well."**

 **-oOo-**

 _ **"Renewed shall be Blade that was broken; the crownless again shall be King."**_

The thick grey smoke that surrounded Ruby Rose finally cleared away, as it had for the rest of her friends before her. The presence of the fog had confused her for a time, then it began to frighten her as she began to wander aimlessly, feeling nothing before her as she continued to walk onward towards some unknown location. But now that the fog was gone?

With the fog gone, she returned to just being plain confused by what had happened and, more importantly, where she was exactly.

The short red-haired girl was boot deep in water, the only things that surrounded her being a long stretch of old, yet standing pillars as the room she was in was lit only by numerous candles that littered both sides of the colossal room. Strewn around the sides of the room was piles upon piles of wares forged from gold and silver with jewels among the heap of wealth that had been scattered about.

While the mental child within Ruby's subconscious mind would've yelled _"Shiny!"_ , her thoughts of said wealth had been interrupted. Her attention turned to what had lain behind it all: charred mountains of what appeared to be statues of bodies along the edges of the floors, each one of them given intricate expressions that captured pain and anguish that gave the young girl a strong feeling of dread and uneasiness.

 _'Whoever designed this place really had a sick and twisted sense of humor,'_ Ruby mused to herself, her mind wandering in confusion and questions until those thoughts drew to a screeching halt at what she now saw before her.

On the opposite side of the room sat a large figure upon a throne befitting of it's stature. At first, she had considered it to be another part of the room's decorum until she saw it's chest rising and falling alongside it's head tilted over, their head lolling back and forth slightly, deep rumbling sounds came from the giant thing on the throne.

"H-hello?" she called out, hoping that it was perhaps reasonable enough to listen to her. It was sitting on a throne after all: it had to be a ruler of something, so it probably listened to their subjects.

Instead, the rumbling stopped. The figure's body grew still and it's head began to lift upwards. Eyes opened, revealing a pair of fiery red orbs that glared into the girl's silver eyes, causing her to gulp fearfully at their menacing gaze. _ ********_

Ruby watched as the man-figure thing began to rise from it's seat, taking note of it's menacing appearance starting with their dull gold-plated sandals to jagged crown that topped the figure's concealed face.

 _"The Reclusive Lord of the Profaned Capitol...-"_

Then the figure grabbed ahold of the giant machete she just now noticed, pulling themselves to their feet as the giant hefted the humongous cleaver in it's right hand. Ruby responded by removing _Crescent Rose_ from her waist, the weapon in turn shifted into it's combative scythe form.

The figure then took a single step, their offhand outstretching towards the girl, and it's head cocking forward. A loud and thunderous roar emerged from the creature that forced Ruby's knees to buckled under the sheer force, the jewels and valuables strewn around the room shook and rattled from the intense volume before ceasing.

 _"-Yhorm, the Giant,"_ a voice whispered into Ruby's ear as the now-named Yhorm steadily strode towards her, machete in hand.

 ***BOOM!***

A long gash into the floor and a machete embedded where Ruby had once stood. Yhorm wrenched his blade from the crater, his face contorting in confusion as there was no corpse to make itself known.

"HYAAAH!" the giant stumbled to the side and crashed into a nearby pillar as series of blows slammed into the side of his face, staggering him before catching himself on the candle-lit wall. Yhorm pushed himself back to his feet and glared at the little silver-eyed girl, who's face held that of determination. The red scythe poised before the girl, the sound of a reloading mechanism resonating as the girl pulled back a lever on the side of her weapon.

Though Ruby's brief victory was for naught as the giant lifted the machete over his head, both hands held horizontally from the blade's handle and the notch made inside Yhorm's machete. The red-hooded Huntress-in-training quickly activated her Semblance and dashed away before the blade came crashing down, the force of the blow itself sent her skidding back several feet before she finally retaliated. Her scythe gleaming under the dimly lit room as she sped forward and sliced into the Giant's right leg, forcing him to kneel down in effect to the attack.

Yhorm quickly pushed his hand down against his knee and forced himself back up, letting out a loud roar as he swiped at the girl with his off-hand, his palm making contact with the girl as she attempted to reach his upper body with a single leap. The reclusive Lord heard an audible _smack_ and watched as the girl's path had been intercepted, slamming into a nearby wall as a trail of red roses followed in her wake.

Ruby grunted in pain as she quickly recovered, pushing herself off and speeding towards a nearby pillar. With the help of her scythe, she stabbed the blade into the pillar's stone material, watching as the giant finally took notice of her. Yhorm reeled his arm back and swung forward, the blade of his machete slicing into the stone column. Luckily, the red-haired girl leapt off at the last second and landed onto the giant's blade.

Before he was able to retaliate, Yhorm saw a flash of red before the girl's blade sliced into his neck. The scythe curved around his neck before the blade left, watching as the girl fell back down and rolled to her feet, watching as blood pooled from the giant's throat, pitched forward and collapsed to the damp floor. A loud crash resonated from throughout the room as Yhorm finally hit the ground, tossing up dirt and water.

Ruby stepped back as she was now face to face with the giant, who gave off a low growl as he reached for her with a single hand. The sound of Yhorm's gauntlets scraping across the ground sent chills up her spine as his hand drew closer and closer, his face contorted with mixed emotions.

The giant's hand was merely metres away as her hands tightened around the handle of _Crescent Rose._

"Yhorm... Old friend..." a new voice made itself known. The giant drew back his hand as Ruby turned around to see this newcomer stepping forth from the wall of fog.

Who was he? And why did he look like an onion? Despite these questions, Ruby only watched as this knight clad in bulging and rounded white armor drew closer and closer, a large sword swung over his shoulder and gripped tightly in his right hand while a small round shield with a spike protruding from the center was clutched in his left.

Before Ruby could ask, the armored man beat her to it, "Who are you? What have you done to Yhorm?"

The girl in red only looked at the giant, who's hand was slowly drawing back at the new presence before him, "I'm Ruby... uh, Ruby Rose. And... I don't know why he attacked me, I was only trying to defend myself and, I... I guess I got a little overactive in the fight."

The knight's rounded helm pivoted and turned to her, "So you are not here to put the Lords of Cinder to rest?"

"Lord of who?"

Ruby watched as the knight lifted his sword and slammed it into the hard ground before dusting off any debris on his armor, "Look around and tell me what you see."

This sounded a little bit too familiar to Professor Oobleck's order, "Well, um... there're pillars, jewels... lots of weird burnt statues..."

A near-quiet sigh emanated from the knight, "Those are not statues."

It took a while for it to sink in, but Ruby looked at what she now realized were once people, "Y-you mean...-"

The knight placed his hands on his head, a grunt emanated slightly before his helmet was pulled off, revealing a man with receding hair and a bushy moustache, looking down at Yhorm's weakened form, "These are the remains of the people that my friend had ruled over. After offering himself as a sacrifice to the First Flame, something terrible took place. Fire rained down to the profaned capitol, burning all who lived here in an explosion of flame."

"That's terrible!" Ruby exclaimed, her eyes widened at the thought of the same happening to Vale.

"Indeed it is, lass," the man nodded, his face contorting into a frown, "Yhorm was a good friend, a good leader. He who sacrificed all he had for subjects that gave him no regard, he did it anyway. If he could be spared in any way, I would do it in a heartbeat..."

The knight, looking at the fallen giant with conflicting emotions, "But, I have a duty to fulfill. My friend, this... Lord of Cinder, had me promise him that I strike him down should he ever be driven to such a maddened state. And now-"

He pulled the sword out of the ground, Ruby glanced at it and saw the crossguard was below the hilt rather than over it, giving her the reminiscence of an anchor.

"-I've come to uphold my promise. Forgive me, old friend."

Ruby looked at the giant, then to the knight. Before he could raise his blade, a colossal hand suddenly batted them away, sending Ruby and the knight sliding back.

"Gah!" Ruby grunted, as did the onion-shaped knight, as they both looked up.

They watched as Yhorm slowly but surely began to push himself off the ground, the injuries surrounding his body dissipating as he erupted in a plume of fire. He picked up his machete, holding in both hands standing menacingly before the knight and the Huntress.

Ruby looked at the knight, who gave hearty chuckle, placing his onion-shaped helmet back over his head, "My old friend is much more resilient than he looks, Ruby of Rose. Perhaps he would rather go out in one last bout before his end... how like my old friend, ha ha!"

"Uh huh," Ruby whimpered, yet still clung tightly to _Cresent Rose,_ "I think I noticed..."

The knight raised his sword, raising it to the giant, "By my honor: I, Siegward of the knights of Catarina, have come to uphold my promise."

The old Lord of Cinder let off a deep, ear-piercing roar before charging forward, machete in hand as the ground beneath him rumbled at his mighty stature, aged bricks giving way and crumbling as each step shook the earth.

Ruby swallowed nervously, her throat dry as her fingers switched on the trigger and handle of her scythe.

"May the sun shine upon this Lord of Cinder!" Siegward uttered before charging at the giant, "HRAAAAAAGH!"

The knight of Catarina was thrown back by a ring of fire as the giant rose a boot and slammed it into the dampened floor. Siegward opened his eyes as he attempted to pick himself back up, only to see the Embered form of Yhorm looming over him, his blade raised above his head, burnt alight in a plume of bright fire. The blade sailed downwards, poised to strike at the aged knight, only to stop shortly after as a fluttering red form comprised of roses slammed into the armored behemoth standing above the knight. Two lightning-fast slices tearing into Yhorm's abdomen before the red mass bounced off of his chest.

The red-hooded huntress grunted softly as she slammed herself against a nearby pillar, cocking her sniper-scythe before speeding towards the Lord of Cinder with a determined shout.

Unfortunately for her, the giant had anticipated this, knowing that he was not going to fall for the same trick again. Before the girl could do anything to land her hits, the old Lord quickly lowered his head and spun around, catching the girl in mid-flight in a tight vice.

"N-no!" Ruby cried out in panic as _Crescent Rose_ slipped from her fingers, watching as it clattered into the puddle of murky water below. Her attention then turned to the giant's hand that wrapped itself around her, attempting with all her might to loosen the Lord of Cinder's grip.

Before Yhorm, in his now maddened state as a Lord of Cinder, could attempt to crush the girl in his hand, he caught a sound similar to a gust of wind until a burst of pain sliced into his wrist. The ruler of the Profaned Capitol screamed an animalistic roar as he dropped the red-haired girl.

Ruby landed in the water, cushioning her body a bit before she scrambled to her feet, the giant falling to a single knee as the wind before him dissipated. Picking up her scythe, she turned to see Siegward, his sword surrounded by a torrent of wind. He raised the sword above his head before slamming it into the ground. A sharp hurricane of wind sliced through the air as the tip of the blade plunged into the dilapidated bricks, whipping through as a thin blade of air and slicing into Yhorm as he tried to stand back up, only to stumble back, grabbing onto a crumbling pillar for support.

"Face me, Lord of Cinder! For I bear the _Storm Ruler_!" Siegward shouted at the top of his lungs, sprinting towards the giant and rolling between his legs to avoid another slam from the giant's machete, "Flee, Ruby of Rose! This battle is between him and I!"

The knight of Catarina raised his shield to block another incoming strike from the giant, using his shield to take the blow before charging once more with his sword held high, a violent wind swirling about within.

Before the damage could be dealt, Yhorm swept his blade to the side, knocking him aside and into another pillar, sending him falling onto his belly, "Oof!"

Siegward tried to get up, "Urgh! Damn my old age...", he looked up to see Yhorm approaching him, his blade sliding along the floor.

Wait- where was _Storm Ruler_? The knight of Catarina shook his head and hastily scanned the area around him, unable to see the giant-slaying blade within sight. But it was too late, Yhorm was already above him, his foot raised to ground the so-called 'Onion Knight' into the earth. Siegward was too weak to move, to beaten and bruised... so much for fulfilling his promise...

 _ **"HYAAAAAAAAAAAH!"**_

 ***BOOM!***

A thunderous roar echoed through the Profaned Capital as it's former ruler stumbled back into his throne. Siegward furrowed his brows as he opened his eyes, surprised to see the girl in front of him, _Storm Ruler_ held within both hands, the violent hurricane within the blade dissipating as Yhorm was trying to recover.

"Lady Ruby, I had told you to run," Siegward grunted, pulling himself up from the floor, leaning on the remainders of the pillar he was thrown at as he was barely able to stand with assistance.

"No!" she flat out refused, "I'm not going to let you get killed."

And with that, the knight of Catarina watched as the girl disappeared into a shroud of roses, speeding towards the recovering Lord with newfound determination. Siegward's eyes nearly popped out of his skull as he watched the scene unfold.

With her scythe lacking the necessary ammunition and making it practically useless, Ruby was forced to rely on Siegward's sword, which felt surprisingly light in her hands, despite it being nearly as tall as her. The girl activated her Semblance, dancing circles around the giant as the storm within the sword's blade began to stir up once more, forming a miniature gale that swirled once more around the dull grey blade.

Using the last of his strength, and the will of the First Flame that burned within him, Yhorm grabbed onto the handle of his machete and charged once more at the small girl. He let out one last roar before grabbing the handle in both hands and slamming it into the floor.

The smash came out as a shockwave, sending debris everywhere and throwing around anyone unfortunate enough to be caught in it's radius. The force of the wind had thrown Ruby up into the air, sending her careening against the ceiling, luckily she was able to redirect herself until she was able to plant both feet upon the ceiling, the force both cracking the ceiling above and surrounding it in a hail of rose petals.

With one final heave, she pushed herself off and raced towards the giant at near-sonic speeds, Siegward's sword trailing right behind her within her hands.

The entirety of the throne room exploded once more in a cascade of wind. The power of the storm held within, combined with the force and momentum of Ruby, created a powerful and unstoppable force against the steely and immovable object that was Yhorm, slicing into his abdomen and crashing into the ground behind him at the foot of his throne (funnily enough, his throne actually does have feet).

Next thing she heard from Yhorm was a deep and baritone, yet pained groan.

Ruby turned around, only to nearly panic as she watched Yhorm begin to collapse upon her. She raised her arms defensively, completely thrown off guard to even think about using her Semblance until he disintegrated and disappeared before he could hit the ground.

 _Storm Ruler_ clattered to the floor, as well as Ruby's knees as soon as her strength nearly left her. The girl panted heavily as she had never felt this exhausted before in her life, sweat dripping from nearly every pore.

Wait a minute, "Siegward!"

Ruby barely managed to push herself up until she was finally standing, only to see Siegward sitting beside the pillar that had nearly killed him. She found him seated cross-legged, one hand resting on a single knee while the other was clutching a bloody wound.

Siegward's breathing was labored and pained as he slowly removed his helmet once more, "It... it seems I'm in your debt... my thanks..."

The girl found herself taking a seat in front of him, "You're welcome, I think."

"Heheh... you are a brave and bright young one, Ruby of Rose," he chuckled to himself, though earned a painful and bloody cough in the process, "Urgh... I could have not kept my promise without you."

Ruby then watched as he pulled out a pair of mugs and a mid-sized pouch before pouring some liquid into both mugs until they reached the brim, "Now, for a final toast..."

Siegward placed the cup into the girl's hands, who hesitantly received it. Ruby frowned at the contents, knowing just how alcohol smelled (courtesy of her uncle).

"To your valour, and to my old friend Yhorm," he began, holding the wooden mug halfway to his chest before stretching his arm out to the sky, "Long may the sun shine! Aha ha ha ha ha haaaa...!"

The man tipped the mug back and chugged it's entirety before slamming it into the ground, his body shuddering for only a bit before smiling at the girl with a drowsy and jovial smile, "Well, I'm going have myself a little nap... the only thing to do, really, after a nice toast. I would consider you a true friend, Ruby of Rose... best of luck to your duty."

And with that, his eyes closed and his head fell forward. Ruby could hear snoring even as she smiled at the man and gave him a quick 'thank you' as she walked away with the mug still in hand.

The young reaper found herself enamored by a floating and sputtering little flame near the front of the throne. She knelt down before it, reaching out to it with a single hand.

However, before she could touch it, the flame burst into a bright white light, swallowing Ruby completely before her vision and consciousness faded to black.

 **"You, as well as your comrades, have finished the trials of Embers against the old Lords of Cinder. Now, returneth to whence thou came, for he who hath granted such trials beckons."**

* * *

 **Disclaimer: And so Team RWBY has finally faced off against the Lords of Cinder, returning to the one who had sent them there to begin with.**

 **May the flames guide thee.**


End file.
